In the medical device industry, it is important our teams are cohesive so we can continue to drive excellence. Tell me about a time you gave feedback to a peer?
The interviewer wants to know that you aren't shy about giving feedback to your peers to help them succeed. True leaders show their true colors by mentoring and supporting colleagues, not just by supporting and training direct reports. Show the interviewer that you care about the development of others and aren't afraid to give feedback.
"I noticed my peer was really struggling with her communication with another leader. He would get very anxious and even out of breath when he was telling me about what was going on. One of the times that he was venting to me, I listened, but then asked a few more questions to probe deeper. Through my questions, my colleague was able to think of a few different strategies to try when working with this person in the future. The power of the question is very powerful."
"We had bi-weekly team meetings and we do a lot of brainstorming during that time. One of my colleagues came across as really negative and would shoot down people's ideas really quickly. This really deflated the energy in the team. I asked him to go for a walk with me and I told him how his behavior was being perceived. He was caught off guard by this feedback. However, because we were walking and our bodies were moving, it helped him to calm down and hear me. At the end, he thanked me for pulling him aside and talking to him about it and I could tell at the next meeting that he came with an attitude that was different and more open."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I believe that feedback is one of the most effective tools in communications and that it doesn't have to be scary. During one production I was working, the production manager was very new and she was struggling with communicating with departmental teams outside of the production, which made it difficult for my team to promote and plan the public-facing side of the event. I ended up asking her if she had time for an extra 10-minute meeting and discussed that while she wasn't doing anything wrong, I felt like there was more we could do to open up communication. She was very responsive and willing to collaborate with me. After the meeting, we were able to open additional routes to share paperwork between our teams and made sure to plan additional meetings to check in more often.
Stephanie's Feedback
This is a very thorough and well-rounded response. You take your interviewer through the situation and the exact steps that you took to give your colleague feedback that was constructive and thoughtful. My only suggestion for making your answer even stronger is to consider adding a sentence to the end of your answer that shows what the impact of this was. Communication improved and you created opportunities for more check-in meetings; what were the outcomes on the team as a result of this? Highlighting positive impacts will take your answer up a notch!
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